1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems, and in particular to a method and system for providing a visual representation of computing resource capacities, such as that of individual resources or any group of resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
Companies and organizations often maintain computer networks and data centers to conduct regular business operations. Virtualization of networks, clusters, cloud groups, servers, and storage has allowed companies to increase the efficiency with which data centers can be operated. As used herein, a “cloud group” may refer to any grouping of resources or any identifiable (logical) container entity corresponding to one or more resources. However, managing the data center continues to be a challenging endeavor as the amount of data stored in the data center increases with time and as the number of virtual machines, clusters, and cloud groups increases.
Organizing and managing a data center usually relies on management software for monitoring the data center and taking necessary actions. Most management software available provides status regarding the resources of a data center in a hierarchical structure. Currently, there is not a single view that provides an administrator with an overview of the health and available capacity in the data center. Also, performing actions like allocating and reclaiming storage are typically not integrated as part of the visual representation.
In view of the above, improved methods and mechanisms for generating displays of capacity utilization in a data center are desired.